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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26756161">Showstopper</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagelistrying/pseuds/bagelistrying'>bagelistrying</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternative Perspective, Cliffhanger i guess, Dialogue Heavy, During Canon, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins - Freeform, Lauren Lopez is a Goddess, Poisoned Coffee, Short, Teen for a lot of swearing, They Didn't Think About The Implications (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals), apotheosis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:53:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,276</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26756161</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagelistrying/pseuds/bagelistrying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma was so sick of everything - the same old putting up with Nora and Zoe, day after day after day. So, anything interesting happening seemed almost refreshing at the time. </p><p>If only she had thought about the implications.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Showstopper</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Happy Spooktober everyone! I just felt like writing out one of my favorite scenes from tgwdlm, mostly from Emma's perspective. It's such a good show, and I'll probably do more starkid stuff in the future, cause this was genuinely so much fun.</p><p>And yes, i know the name implies that this would be about Hidgens, but i just thought it was cool and all my other ideas for a title didn't quite fit</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Someone slammed a fist on the counter across the cafe, yelling, “Hello!?” God. Really? “Please, God, I just want a black coffee!” Emma sighed and picked up the pot. She was so sick of Nora and Zoe, but she had a job to keep, so she began to sing as she rounded the corner to greet the customer.</p><p>
  <em> “Black coffee, I’m your coffee gal-“ </em>
</p><p><em> “NO!” </em> The man at the counter practically collapsed onto the counter. She slowly backed away, lowering the pot. “No... not you too, Emma, please, god, stop singing!” </p><p>“Okay, fine, I’ll stop...” Concerned, she set down the coffee on the counter, rearranging the bottles Zoe had left out. Remembering, she suddenly pointed at him. “Oh! Right, I didn’t forget. You’re the guy who doesn’t like musicals. Paul, right?” She turned around to get more water boiling.</p><p>“Emma... you’re talking to me... like a normal person!” Paul looked incredibly relieved, staring around at the other people in the cafe. </p><p>“Uh, yeah, and if my boss catches me, I’ll get canned.” She replied, rolling her eyes. “New company policy- not only do we have to sing when people tip, but when they enter, when they order, all the time apparently!” </p><p>Paul was still breathing heavily, carefully watching her wipe down the counter. “Emma... I think there’s something very wrong with the world today.”</p><p>She threw the rag over her shoulder. “Yeah, fuckin’ tell me about it. I spent the whole morning learning this new dumbass tip song. I’m exhausted.”</p><p>Before she could continue, Paul grabbed the cup she had taken from the counter and dragged her around to the other side of the counter, leading her to the far corner of the cafe and grabbing her shoulders. There was pure panic in his eyes, his voice shaking. “I feel like there’s something-“ he searched for the word. “-sinister, infecting Hatchetfield today.”</p><p>He glanced over his shoulder again. “And I know this is going to sound crazy, and- and not very scary, but it is scary- if you think about the implications.” He took a deep breath. “Promise me you’ll think about the implications.” </p><p>Emma nodded uncertainly. “Okay... okay, I promise.”</p><p>“Emma, I think the world is becoming...” he bit his lip. “A musical.”</p><p><em>Well, Paul’s fucking lost it.</em> She thought. She opened her mouth to reply, but couldn’t think of anything that would explain anything in the right way. “Um- I-“</p><p>“Don’t say anything!” He interrupted. “Just... let it sink in.”</p><p>Surely someone else in the cafe was seeing her visible discomfort. “Okay...”</p><p>“Now-“ his distressed eyes were fixed on her, his grip on her shoulders even tighter than before. “Are you frightened?”</p><p>“Um, yeah, I think I am starting to get a little bit frightened.”</p><p>“You should be!”</p><p>“Emma!” She had never been so relieved to hear Zoe and Nora’s singsong voice ring through the cafe. “Tip!”</p><p>“Oh, thank god. Sorry Paul, I gotta go sing this, uh, dumbass tip song! Sorry!” She hurried over to the two other baristas, copying their dances and reciting the harmonies she had learned that morning with little effort.</p><p>With the break in the music, she ran to the counter and grabbed another set of cups. She handed them out to the businessmen scattered across the cafe, all taking sips to the beat of the music.</p><p>She heard Paul trying to talk to her through the commotion, but she wasn’t quite ready to handle him yet, so she kept busy and let Zoey and Nora grapevine their way through his path. She sighed and walked back to the center for the last chorus. </p><p>
  <em> “And we’ll bring it... right up!”  </em>
</p><p>Frustrated, Emma turned to go back to the counter, but the two baristas behind her kept moving. Her head snapping over her shoulder, she watched, shocked, as they continued to perform a completely different dance, tapping their feet and spinning in perfect sync. </p><p>“God, wait! Hey! What is?!” She gestured, irked, at the two, who were still dancing in the center of the cafe with the same obnoxious customer service smiles. “There’s more!? Nora! Hey!” They didn’t even acknowledge her. “Alright. You know what? Stop!” She waved angrily in front of their faces, glaring at them as they turned to face her, standing perfectly still.</p><p>“What was that?! A whole other A section? God, when did you learn that?” She saw Paul watching her from the behind one of the seats, eyes wide. “You know what? When I got this job, I signed up to serve coffee and cold, shitty pastries.” Nora and Zoe hadn’t reacted, they just stood there, smiling to a point that it was starting to freak her out, but she continued anyway.</p><p>“If I wanted to be in a musical, I’d be in a damn musical!” She leaned forward, sneering, “Yeah, that’s right, Zoe. I was in Brigadoon in high school and I fucking killed it!” She raised a finger in the air, staring around at the others. “But now, I’m just trying to make ends meet while I work my way through community college.”</p><p>She reached behind her back and started untying her apron, tearing at the knot and pulling it over her head. “And I can do that, just as easily, down the street, at Starbucks! I quit!” She threw the apron on the ground, glaring at the other two.</p><p><em> “You can’t quit, Emma...” </em> they responded, stepping into her path as she headed for the door. They were kind of talking, but somehow still in harmony.</p><p>She paused, then replied, “Yeah, I sure as hell can-“ as she tried to step past them again.</p><p><em> “The song is so simple. We’ll teach it to you. Why, everyone here will be singing it soon.” </em> With their words, the people around the cafe suddenly started coughing, folding over their paper cups and gasping for air, hands grasping at their laptops.</p><p>“What are you...” Emma stuttered, watching the entire crowd start spluttering and writhing in their seats. “...talking about?”</p><p><em> “They’ve all had their coffee.” </em> Zoe and Nora replied. <em> “Their apotheosis will be upon them at any moment...” </em></p><p>Panic suddenly coursed under her skin. Paul was right. Of course he was- what the hell was going on? Kicking the apron out of the way, she ran over to the counter, wrenching open the lid to the coffee pot. “What did you do to their coffee?”</p><p>Something was floating at the top of the pot, glimmering strangely. Relieved that it had cooled down, she carefully drew out an ugly blue clump of goo out of the top, squinting at it in horror before dropping it back in. “Fucking gross!”</p><p>She furiously wiped her hands on her blouse, turning back to the other baristas, who had slowly moved towards her, repeating the tip song as Emma backed against the wall, staring at the residue on her fingers. “What is this? What is this?! What?” Zoe and Nora towering over her, she had nothing left to do but to but to shriek and duck past them, trying to drown out their hymnal.</p><p>
  <em> “Hey, Mr. Business...”  </em>
</p><p><em> Oh, fuck. </em>The entire cafe, who had all stood up perfectly straight, had joined in. Only Paul, standing terrified by the door, was still silent. </p><p>“<em> How do you, how do you do? </em>” They all had raised their arms, pointing at Emma as she raced for the door, grabbing Paul by the elbow. </p><p>“They’re singing!” She begged him. “Why are they all singing?!”</p><p>“We need to run, Emma, don’t look back! Just run!” He replied, shoving open the door. Before it shut behind them, Zoe’s voice rang clear over the chorus.</p><p>
  <em> “We’ve got a double for you!” </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>she didn't think about the implications</p></blockquote></div></div>
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